The Qualifications of Following Jesus

The Qualifications for Following Jesus Mark 2:13-17

I. Introduction

A. Planet Fitness reaches people because they start where the people are. They don’t advertise that the people there have six-pack abs and can bench 450. They start with the truth of who most people are. They don’t like going to the gym. They are not overachievers in the gym. They acknowledge that they may never be able to have six-pack abs, but they know they need exercise. I wonder what most people see us like in the church. I wonder what they would say the qualifications for entrance into our church are.

II. Socially Unlikely

A. Exegesis

1. There was a crowd of people coming to follow Jesus. Jesus had the pick of all the people to choose from

2. These people were already, in a sense, following Jesus as his disciples

3. Levi is unlikely to be called by Jesus

a) As he passed by, he saw Levi and called him to follow

b) Levi is not looking for him

c) Levi is too busy to worry about Jesus

4. Levi is highly unlikely to follow Jesus –

a) A tax collector

b) Seen as a traitor by the Jews – He must confess his sin

c) A lucrative business that makes him wealthy – He must leave it all behind

d) He must give up his power and authority

e) Levi already must see himself as better than other Jews to betray them and to turn on them – Most likely has justified all his livelihood

B. Application

1. Would you get up and go if Jesus passed by, called your name, and commanded you to follow him?

2. What would you have to give up to do so?

3. How much would we say that we have sacrificed to call ourselves followers of Jesus?

4. Let’s be honest that we are all socially unlikely to follow Jesus

5. Look at the Pharisees

a) They cannot follow Jesus and are quick to find fault in him

b) They cannot see themselves as the ones in need as Levi does

c) Luke 18:9-14: Interesting situation between a Pharisee and a tax collector – The tax collector has an easier time seeing his fault than the righteous Pharisee.

6. To Follow Jesus, we must let go of what we think we have made of ourselves to cling to what He will make of us

III. Morally Unworthy

A. Exegesis

1. Jesus goes to the house of Levi to have a Salvation celebration party

2. Levi is already beginning to work on the outreach of us his newfound faith having invited all his tax collector and sinner buddies so they can hear from Jesus as well.

3. Here is Jesus sitting in the middle of them

4. The Scribes and the Pharisees cannot handle it and they begin to question why Jesus is eating with them

5. Tax collectors were the lowest of the low in First century Jerusalem

a) Matthew 5:46

b) Matthew 11:19

c) Matthew 18:17

6. They were Jews who had turned on their people in taking taxes for Rome

7. They would exact great amounts of money from people above and beyond what was owed to the government – They became wealthy by extorting this money

8. They were considered ritually unclean by other Jews because of their sin

a) They were not welcome in the synagogue

b) If someone brushed up against a tax collector, they were deemed unclean

B. Application

1. But how would any of us do if we had to meet a moral qualification?

a) All of our sins are as filthy rags – Isaiah 64:6

b) Romans 3:10-12

c) Ephesians 2:1-3

2. But Jesus came to save the lost

a) 1 Timothy 1:12-16 – Paul speaks of the fact that Christ saved him, the foremost of sinners

3. None of us are worthy of Christ’s salvation, which is why we ought to be cheering for the Tax collector, not judging him

4. What does this passage teach us about who we should go after?

5. What does it teach us about going after undesirables?

a) I heard about a church just this week where the minister was reaching rough kids, but they were acting unsavory and the more righteous in the church were upset about the way they were acting

b) If we are reaching to the lost there are some things we need to accept:

(1) They will cause problems

(2) They will make a mess

(3) They will act unsavory

(4) They will leave marks on the walls and stains on the church van seats

c) But, what happens when they are saved? – They are snatched up from their course towards hell and they are given new life that will be sanctified

6. Story of Mike Bullard not wanting us to keep reaching out to all the kids at Ft. Campbell

IV. Spiritually Unhealthy

A. Exegesis

1. The saying is mostly for the ears of the Pharisees

a) They think that Jesus has come for the spiritually healthy, the ones who already have it together spiritually

b) Why? They don’t think they need a spiritual Savior, but a national one

c) Two things they misunderstand

(1) They misunderstand who Jesus is

(2) They misunderstand their spiritual health

2. Jesus came for all of them because all of them are spiritually unhealthy

a) He is not excluding the Pharisees here

b) He is just stating his mission and helping them understand why He is at the house of a sinner and eating with sinners

c) When they can finally see themselves in the same spiritual need as the tax collector they too can be helped by Jesus

(1) Nicodemus in John 3 is a Pharisee

(2) Paul is a Pharisee

B. Application

1. The same thing is true in a religious culture like ours

2. Many people see Jesus who is there to provide for particular needs and leave us alone in other spiritual areas,

3. He is not to question our spiritual state or condition

4. Many today can see themselves as the tax collector. They see their sin, they know that they are in sin, and if you can convince them that Jesus is the savior they readily come

5. Others are like Pharisees

a) They are inoculated by the gospel

b) They have had just enough of the gospel to think they are saved, but are never truly taken over by salvation

c) They believe because of some spiritual experience that they are saved, but it only serves to keep them from giving their full hearts to Jesus and trusting him. They are trusting in their experience

V. Conclusion

A. So which are you?

1. Are you like Levi?

a) You have heard the call of Jesus to repent of your sin and trust in Him for your salvation

b) You have gotten up from your life and left it behind simply trusting Jesus

2. Are you like the tax collectors and sinners?

a) They are there understanding their sin and seeing their need for a savior who loves them

b) They are willing to admit their sin and lay it aside to follow Jesus

3. Are you like the Pharisees

a) You have your purposes for Jesus and aren’t interested in His purpose

b) You are inoculated to the gospel –

B. Whichever you are, Jesus came for you. He died to save YOU

Luke 18:9–14

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matthew 5:46

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 11:19

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

Matthew 18:17

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Isaiah 64:6

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

Romans 3:10–12

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Ephesians 2:1–3

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1 Timothy 1:12–16

12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

Second-century Philosopher on the Upside-down Nature of the Kingdom

The second-century Greek philosopher Celsus captures well just how upside-down the Kingdom of God is—and just how confusing that can seem to unbelievers. In an attack on followers of Christ, he writes:

Those who summon people to the other mysteries [i.e. other religions] make this preliminary proclamation: "Whosoever has pure hands and a wise tongue." And again, others say, "Whosoever is pure from all defilement, and whose soul knows nothing of evil, and who has lived well and righteously." Such are the preliminary exhortations of those who promise purification from sins.

But let us hear what folk these Christians call. "Whosoever is a sinner," they say. "Whosoever is unwise, whosoever is a child, and, in a word, whosoever is a wretch, the kingdom of God will receive him." Do you not say that a sinner is he who is dishonest, a thief, a burglar, a poisoner, a sacrilegious fellow, and a grave robber? What others would a robber invite and call? Why on earth does He prefer sinners?